Akane nodded in gratitude and hopefully closed her eyes before a tear, glistening in the sunlight, pearled from her eyelashes onto her lip, so that the salty drop reminded the young woman of her home, of her hall, of her fiancé, with whom she trained together. Before she let herself be carried away by the sweet thoughts of him, however, she opened her eyes, beaming with joy, one last time.

"Mom, I will miss you."

Then the young woman closed her eyes and let her lovely thoughts overwhelm her. All of her memories, heartwarming or heartbreaking, terrible or beautiful, beneficial or sorrowful, were about one person.

"Ranma?"

The young man noticed from afar that one of his loyal friends had spoken to him. He held the lifeless body of a young woman protectively in his arms, which was only covered with his shirt and lay still in his lap.Completely expressionless, he looked at the peaceful, calm features of his lover, who only seemed to be asleep in his strong arms, but the lack of breath and the unnatural pallor in her face betrayed that she was asleep forever.

“Ranma?” A second woman put her hand sympathetically on his shoulder, but the young man didn't react and so she reluctantly pulled it back.

The young man felt nothing, he did not feel the bitter cold that the lashing wind caused on the deserted mountain, he did not feel the burning pain of the numerous wounds he had suffered during the fight, he did not feel the insane emptiness that it caused Loss, the emptiness that would make life impossible for him, he felt nothing, he felt nothing. And suddenly his wailing tears fell on the blood-stained earth.

They fell to the earth as numerous as snowflakes fall to the ground in a gray winter storm and he was not ashamed of any of these tears. Shivering, the young man closed his eyes and gasped for breath, because the stabbing pain that was slowly setting in took his breath away. Like red-hot knives, it dug into his bowels and stabbed him stab by stab. The unbearable agony seemed to never end and with every passing second the pain got worse. Memories of the young woman flooded into his consciousness and heightened the stabbing pain until he could think of nothing more than the young woman and the stabbing pain in his heart. Closing his eyes, tears falling freely, he thought of nothing but his fiancée, who was dead in his arms.

And then, as suddenly as the agony began, it ended. The young man no longer felt any pain, just a pleasant warmth and comfort like at a crackling campfire on a mild summer night.Scared and happy at the same time, he opened his eyes and saw nothing but blinding white light that surrounded him like an impenetrable wall.

"So you're here too," a lovely, feminine voice wafted over to him.

Smiling, the young man bowed his head and wiped the freely falling tears from his eyes with his hand. Then he felt a gentle, sustained pressure on his back and knew that the young woman had leaned against him. A cozy warmth flowed through his body from the point at which his body touched that of his fiancé. Hesitantly and shyly, he took her hand, afraid that it would disappear again when touched, but the young woman did not disappear. She put her hand in his lovingly and smiled. The two young adults stood back to back, hand in hand, enjoying the peace and quiet and togetherness.

"Akane!"

"Ranma!"

"Where, where are we? And how are you?"

But instead of answering his questions, she squeezed his hand lovingly and motioned for him to be silent. The joy of meeting danced in her voice, but her words were chosen with care.

"Let's, let's not waste the time we can still experience together with trivial questions, but simply enjoy it."

But the young man ignored her gestures. Heart racing, he held her hand tightly as if hoping to keep all evils away from her. The woman's features lit up with a bewitching smile.

"What do you mean by that? We, we have forever! We're here together!"

"But not for long, Ranma. I have to go back to my mother and you in the realm of the living," she said and added sadly when she heard his trembling: "I'm sorry, Ranma."

The young woman took a hesitant little step forward, but the equally young man did not let go of her hand. The fear that overwhelmed him paralyzed him.He could only think about the cruelty of fate that his fiancée wanted to take away from him a second time within a few minutes.

"No!" He suddenly shouted resolutely and grabbed her hand tighter. Shaking off the fear, he took heart and turned to the young woman. In this white light she shone with an unearthly beauty. "You don't belong here, Akane. You belong with us, with me. Please, come back with me. Come with me."

Radiant with joy, the young woman turned to face her husband. The smile on her red lips, the joy in her eyes made even the moon and stars fade. Her beauty amazed even the young man, who at first couldn't react when she threw himself into his arms. But then he put his strong arms around her hips and hugged her lovingly. Seconds later, he felt her hands slowly close behind his neck. He looked longingly at her waiting lips and bowed his head to her. Then he closed his eyes and softly breathed her name.

And was startled when his voice, amplified by a thousand echoes, echoed loudly from the mountain walls. The young woman was still lifeless in his arms and his tears fell on her face. But suddenly he felt her hand on his cheek.

"Aka ... ne ...? Akane ... I'm not dreaming either ...?" He asked breathlessly.

The young woman smiled lovingly at him and finally hugged him, too weak to straighten up.

"Let us finish this comedy," she whispered in his ear, unnoticed by everyone. "And then, when the hustle and bustle has subsided, I can take my place - the place by your side."